Author's note: I've made minor changes to this story as of 3/26/14.
Sideburns took off down the staircase. I took off after him. He was fast, and made quick work of the winding stairwell, which wasn't easy. I guessed he probably had a lot of experience running for his life. Well, that was fine. So did I. And I was faster.
"Wait!" He didn't slow down, but I was closing the gap as it was. He exited the stairwell onto the building's third floor. I took the last four stairs in one leap and slipped through the doorway before it had a chance to shut behind him. The space looked like storage, with crates and palates everywhere. In the back corner next to a forklift was what could have been a freestanding closet or something, with words across the top that looked to me like "LIOPCE BXO." Sideburns was standing in front of it, digging something out of his pocket.
"Hey!" I called out again. He turned around, but I wasn't there anymore, I was leaning against the box. The idea was that he would jump out of his skin when he turned back around and saw me, but instead he just raised an amused eyebrow.
"Very good," he said. He sounded impressed. "How did you—?" He looked behind him again, at the spot where I'd been when I'd shouted.
I interrupted him. "What kind of monsters were those?"
His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'what kind'?"
Was he serious? "There are different kinds," I said. "Furies, harpies, lares, minotaurs, although I guess there's really only one of those." His expression had changed. His eyes were wider, and now both eyebrows had climbed his forehead. "But I've never seen whatever that thing was," I finished.
"You've seen… furies?"
"Obviously." I rolled my eyes. He was clearly a god, but I didn't know which one. He didn't make a show of introducing himself like most of the gods I'd met. Maybe he was a minor god. Or maybe it was supposed to be obvious, and I was just missing it. Maybe he was someone really important. I sized him up. The long coat and pinstripe suit were very Hades, god of the Underworld. He was a snappy dresser. But this guy had a twinkle in his eye that was far too alive to belong to the Lord of the Dead.
Had I never met my dad, I might have guessed Hermes. The messenger god had a similar troublemaker's spark and wasn't one for grandiose introductions. He always had someplace to be, and was a natural runner. I'd gotten that from him.
I looked at the closet-thing. None of the gods I'd ever heard of had "blue box" listed as their preferred mode of transportation, but what did I really know? I noticed Sideburns giving me this quizzical look, so I made a show of mimicking him. Like I was the weird one.
I was already bored with this standoff. Fastest way to collect information: Ask.
"Alright, who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm the Doctor."